Digital Culture Reflective Essay on blogs
INTRODUCTION
In the first term of university we were asked to pick additional subjects we would like to add to our individual timetables, one of the 3 options which were made available to me as I was an undergraduate journalism student was digital culture and as I was reading the unit abstract I knew that I would enjoy this topic very much as it was exploring many topics within the digital world which I find somewhat interesting.
Term 1 UNIT UNDERSTANDING
The unit abstract basically highlighted some of the areas this subject will cover. Judging by the title digital culture it instantly gives you a clue as to what this unit is all about. The moment I heard digital culture I immediately thought that this subject will be specifically focusing on the digital media and its correspondence with and relation to different cultures and traditions. Little did I know that through this unit I would gain a lot of understanding and a change of view point as there are many different formations of the word digital not only from a media prospective.
In the first 3 month of our first term we had an introduction into digital culture and its significance in the world today and how digital media and technology are related to and influence much of what we do today. One specific lecture I can remember was when we were focusing more around the digital bodies and how manufactures around the world are making more machineries and technological devices to work think and operate like a human doing practically everything and anything. Most of which I personally find very dehumanizing and pointless. For instance Google glasses is a voice operated computerized automatic glass which does everything you tell it to do I would personally refer to it as a human navigation system. This would have to be one of the most profound creations to come out in 2013 although I don’t think it’s out in shops yet I feel that the financial market could benefit a great profit from this latest invention.
We also discussed in our blogs about the different affects and ways of media change and how the media industry and technology share a mutual bond in coming together to create devices that make it easier for people to gain access to news, notification, announcements etc direct on the go. One of the many devices include smart phone and ipads which have become more and more popular and gained recognition in recent years
As well as focusing on the digital minds and bodies we also looked closely at the media and technology in different aspects. We also looked at laws and regulation of privacy online through popular social network sites such as myspace, bebo, twitter and the most common one which nearly over a dozen people have access to which is facebook. Facebook is a social networking site that is used by many through facebook people share quotes , pictures , videos, as well as their personal information when setting up there account facebook allows you to inbox friends and meet new friends it helps you stay in contact with loved ones and those who you have lost contact with. In our digital culture workshops I discovered more of an understanding in to how facebook as a corporation works in terms of privacy. We also had a task set out to us by Gavin which was to revisit our old pictures and statues and see how our mentality has changed along with our appearance and the way in which we choose to pose in pictures as well as pictures and statues facebook usually take it upon themselves to try and promote and sell you things just based on your preference of music, books, style, celeb and any other interests you might of notified facebook of.
Technology whether digital or not is not only excelling in more ways than one but it is refining and changing the way we think and feel about almost everything as it affects most of our daily lives.
Term 2 UNITS UNDERSTANDING
As we entered our second term in our digital culture lectures our focus area and topics for blogs elevated more towards the cyber warfare and information hacking side of technology. This involved research into different types of hacking and warfare. As I started my blog on cyber warfare I began to take interest in information warfare which has a lot to do with the government and the employment of a specific nation’s private information whereas cyber war fare is simply focusing mainly of the hacking through computerized technologies and devices. The word/phrase cyber basically means all matters that are considered and believed to be computer generated, and the term warfare basically means the force of an operation or act being carried out in a desperate attempt to sabotage.
In this term we also looked at other issues all that have a similar correspondence to what was discussed and communicated in term one in order for us to develop a mature understanding of digital technology in diverse traditions. I had many blogs to complete for both terms the purpose of these blogs was in actual fact to see what I have picked up on in lectures and also for me to elaborate on my personal opinion views and understanding to be shared. One of my many blogs for the second term was based around the topic of democracy not only from a political point of view but also from a media prospective. One of my favorite blogs from term 2 would have to be ‘how the media informs us about democracy’ the reason as to why it is my favorite blog of this term is simply because I thoroughly enjoyed researching about this topic as it interested me very much so. I enjoyed writing up my blog for this question as I was very opinionated about this matter in question and my blog was my very own way in which I could express my views and thoughts about both democracy and media. Media plays huge influential role not only when it comes to democracy issues but society as a whole. There are many job roles journalism being the most common that inform and keep the public informed of political, government and current issues that are taking place around the world
CONCLUSION
All things considered I would gladly say that through my digital culture lectures I was able to get a better understanding of the various types of technology along with how it has refined and incorporate with modern day culture. I also hope that I demonstrated and elaborated on my perceptive of the digital technology/ media and culture within the world we live in today.
